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oasis / ryan adams - how was it?


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Those of you who were there, how was the show?

Denis Armstrong's review is a bit odd... I bolded two sentences that kind of contrast...

Oasis supersonic

Ryan Adams whets appetite for more with dazzling set

Does Oasis matter anymore?

Just over a decade ago, Manchester's fearsome fivesome, who played Scotiabank Place last night, were being compared to The Beatles and hailed as Britpop's great white hope, particularly after their killer 1995 album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

And when they weren't making everyone's Top-10 lists, the band's creative centre, the battling Gallagher brothers Noel and Liam, were making headlines in the scandal sheets for their drunken off-stage antics.

But when only 7,000 people showed up, you had to wonder: Does anyone care about Oasis anymore?

In a word, yes. After years of floundering, Oasis put on a supremely confident and competent rock show last night, covering most of their favourite tunes as well as a couple new tunes from their seventh studio album Dig Out Your Soul on Oct. 6.

Even with all the technologically advanced video and lighting, the band felt like they were doing a late set at a club. Quiet to the point of being subdued, they spoke little, and instead, stuck to playing the setlist without appearing too robotic.

On that count, they were largely successful. Diffident, but not indifferent. By the time they finished their opening set with Rock and Roll Star and Lyla, The Shock of the Lightning and Cigarettes & Alcohol, it was clear that on this, their latest tour, they were going to stick to playing music and leave the hijinx and entertaining asides aside. Occasionally, Liam strutted around in his black leather jacket, and Noel added a hint of his former mischievous self, blathering nonsense while tuning his guitar. But in general, it was all business, right down to the goofy mop-top haircuts.

Morning Glory, The Importance of Being Idle, a couple new tunes, To Be Where There's Life and Ain't Got Nothin' and later, Liam merely said "Wonderwall" and the place exploded.

The set list sagged a little near the encore with an acoustic version of Don't Look Back in Anger and Champagne Supernova with all singing along, but that was more telling of how long the set list was.

A cover of The Beatles' I Am The Walrus made for a raucous encore.

A tad bloodless, perhaps, but still among the best two-hours of live music making the old arena's seen.

Opening for Oasis was Ryan Adams and The Cardinals.

The indie singer/songwriter deserved better than he got, but then, I can see how opening for Oasis is a thankless task. Except for a few hundred worshipping fans up front, Adams played to a mostly indifferent audience, at least early in his set. Which was a shame. Still, it didn't take Adams long to win most of the fans over to his gorgeous, combustible and raw songwriting.

You can tell that the 34-year-old grew up listening to Steve Earle, Nick Cave, Lucinda Williams and Joy Division, blending poetically bending lyrics with angular and abrasive guitar jams of Off Broadway, Peaceful Valley, Come Pick Me Up and Fix It in his hour-long set.

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter who or how good you are, when you play Scotiabank Place the arena's awful acoustics are the real star.

I hope one day to see Ryan Adams and The Cardinals somewhere I can actually hear them.

---

OASIS WITH RYAN ADAMS

SCOTIABANK PLACE

Sun Rating: 5 out of 5

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I really can't stand Armstrong's writing style. Does he even understand what he writes? I mean, talk about damning with faint praise.

A tad bloodless, perhaps, but still among the best two-hours of live music making the old arena's seen.

Oh yeah, and then despite the flaws he picks out he gives the show a perfect score.

Why are local music writers allowed to keep their jobs forever?

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I thought he grew up listening to Husker Du, Black Flag, Iron Maiden, etc.

SETLIST:

unconfirmed

Off Broadway

Two

Come Pick Me Up

When the Stars Go Blue

Cold Roses

The Sun Also Sets

This is It

Easy Plateau Peaceful Valley

La Cienaga Just Smiled

Magick (live debut)

Crossed Out Name

Fix It

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thought both sets were great.

never listened much to ryan adams but really enjoyed it. id say he will probably make a lot of new fans on the tour, im one and so is May. ryan came across pretty funny and had some good banter moments.

thought the sound for the cardinals was pretty good. i could hear everything.

oasis fucking rocked it. used to love them so wasnt sure about seeing them now but i am glad i did. and will see them again if they come back. new songs were good too..

i thought dont look back in anger was one of the highlights as well as champagne supernova.

downside of the night.. scotiabank place.. headed out to grab a beer in between sets and the lines were sooo long and moving so slow i bailed fearing i would miss the start of oasis.

i wasnt drunk drinking so didnt really bother me.. all in all a good night and probably the best sounding i have heard scotia bank.

if you like your rock n' roll you should see them. they are on form.

OASIS FUCKING ROCKED!

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Soooo glad I went.

Ryan Adams can do no wrong in my book. His set sent shivers through my body. He packed a lot of songs in a short amount of time. They were all a little faster paced than usual, no drawn out dynamic jams or anything, but the band was tight and his vocals melting.

This is it and La Cienaga Just Smiled were my favorites, but everything was good.

Why is it that there's always some asshole in a crowd that feels the need to voice his opinion at the expense of other people's enjoyment? The guy behind us was screaming "Boooo, get off the stage." Jodie turned around and told him to fack off and he returned the sentiment. It puts a damper on things you know? I am sure Ryan didn't hear that particular meathead, but there must have been another up front because Ryan said "Everyone has always been so nice to me in Canada, except that one guy. Why do you have to be mean dude? It's so much better to be kind. Think about the people beside you who are here to enjoy our set?"

Is it me or is Ryan maturing (or on meds of some sort). It no longer seems to be just about him. I think he finally gets that he's part of a whole band and that the fans matter.

Onto Oasis. I loved their What's the Story Morning Glory albumn. And thankfully they played a lot of stuff from it. Good set, but for me it was only the four song encore that really got me going. It opened with an acoustic version of Don't Look Back in Anger. The entire crowd sang along "Soooooo Sally can wait...." It was absolutely beautiful (who knew meatheads could sing?). Loved Champagne Supernova and I am the Walrus as well.

Good times.

Now it's Booche's turn to post how pigs must be flying because I went to a show on a work night. ;)

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I've never been an Oasis fan (somehow managed to escape them despite being a university student in the mid-90s), so I'm glad I'm saving my Ryan Adams cherry for a night where he's headlining. Will be catching him in November here:

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Edited by Guest
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Oh I have one more comment about last night. Matt Costa opened, opened. Very mellow set, all acoustic (I don't know if that's his usual set up), really nice songs and a great voice. There were drums, but I couldn't hear them, they were so low in the mix if I didn't see a guy up there behind the kit I wouldn't have known he was there. I hadn't heard Costa beofore but I'm interested now.

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I managed to catch this show while in Vancouver last week. We had seats that were dead centre, just off the floor a few rows - so it was perfect for production and sound.

Ryan Adams set was great! I've never been a huge fan of his stuff, but seeing it live (as that experience usually does) definately shed some light on him for me. Very Grateful Dead sounding in guitar tones and rhythms off the start... which is a good thing for me. He mumbled some stuff about being honored to be opening for one of the greatest rock n roll bands ever a few songs in too. His set was not very 'arena' rock, but was still very interesting, dynamic and visually pleasing (aside from the blue/purple lighting he used, which made it impossible to distinguish anything on the stage). He had a nice star screen behind him, and definately had a lighting tech who knew his stuff. I really dug his set.

Then Oasis came on. First off... their lighting rig was three times as massive as their openers', with four huge LED screen among many other lights stacked up pretty high. Opened with Rock n roll star... and then played a bunch of tunes I knew. Some I didn't. Noel said stuff like "Liam wrote that tune. I wrote this one" and then played something like Wonderwall. Overall... Oasis was pretty boring. They had songs that I liked, which was good... "Don't look back in anger' was agreat first encore. But I really didn't need to hear them do "I Am the Walrus". And Liam's singing style of pulling away from the mic at thend of every phrase a second before he was done drove me nuts. And the lights far outshined their onstage personalities. Liam at one point joked "Don't start throwing stuff now..." which I got a kick out of. Better than sitting in my hotel room all night I guess.

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